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The Two Fears: Tremble Before God Alone
Is fear an obsolete concept? Something we should just learn to reject? Or can it actually be a good thing? What is good fear and what is bad fear? What is holy fear? What is the proper place of fear in the life of a Christian, and what does it look like? What are we to think when the Bible tells us, over and over, not to fear—but then commands us, over and over, to fear God? The Bible says that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), yet an honest assessment of modern evangelicalism would suggest that we do not today give the fear of God nearly that level of respect. Many Christians seem to assume that the gospel of grace trumps the fear of the Lord, and that wisdom now has some source other than godly fear. Yet only the God of the gospel is truly worthy of our reverential fear. Encouraging a group of Christians, the apostle Peter “conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile” (1 Peter 1:17). Life is an “exile,” a short passing through on the way to our true home. And apparently we are to live this exile in godly fear. But what does that mean? And what does that not mean? The Bible offers us a standard for the pursuit of answers, an explicitly active My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:1-6) The Two Fears will prepare you to embrace every active verb in this passage from Proverbs—that you might receive, treasure, listen to, incline your heart, call out for insight, raise your voice, seek and search with all your might for holy reverence and the fear of the Lord. As you do, the promise could not be more then you will understand. Then you will fear. Then you will find.
108 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2012
8 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Chris Poblete
2 books20 followersChris Poblete is the lead pastor of King’s Cross Church, a new church community in South Orange County, California.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 5, 2012
How exciting is it to read about the fear of the Lord...well pretty darn exciting because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In Poblete's definition of to fear something is to give credence to its power over you. Think about that for a moment. What we fear is what has power over us. There is a bondage fear and a reverential fear (location 290 on the kindle) There is a Godly fear and a ungodly fear. It is important that we understand our fears so that we can overcome them. It is never a passive walk with the Lord. It discusses how we the church and individuals look at fear. I really enjoyed reading this book. I was highlighting all over the place. It is also a very engaging read because we all deal with fear. Truly understanding holiness is understanding who God is..He is like no other and understanding ourselves...in need of saviour. The holiness of God is Glory, not understanding that we can take the glory for ourselves. We dethrone God. I was reminded in a majestic kind of way that when we stand before God, there will be no moment to offer complaints or demand explanations for so and so. There will be only worship, reverence, awe, wonder. Fear of the Lord. On that day, you and I will give credence to the judge of all the earth, acknowledging his dominion over us. Because it is all about HIM and it was never about us and that is a good and a glorious thing. It is the holiness of God.
April 5, 2012
I was humbled and privileged when my friend Chris Poblete asked me to write an endorsement of this book. Here is my endorsement:
In this excellent and easy to read book, Chris Poblete tackles a topic that is often overlooked in contemporary Christian theology. As he examines an unhealthy fear of man and the fear of God, he leads his readers straight into the throne room of the One who is sovereign in and over all things—the One– who is wisdom from God– the Lord Jesus Christ. Read this book, but beware– rather than you examining it, the Word of God will examine you and encourage you to consider that the God of the Bible is far more majestic and glorious than you ever dared to imagine.
In this excellent and easy to read book, Chris Poblete tackles a topic that is often overlooked in contemporary Christian theology. As he examines an unhealthy fear of man and the fear of God, he leads his readers straight into the throne room of the One who is sovereign in and over all things—the One– who is wisdom from God– the Lord Jesus Christ. Read this book, but beware– rather than you examining it, the Word of God will examine you and encourage you to consider that the God of the Bible is far more majestic and glorious than you ever dared to imagine.
April 4, 2012
I actually had the privilege of writing one of the endorsements for this book—it sums up my feelings on it well, I trust:
Readers will be equally challenged and blessed as they read The Two Fears and heed Chris Poblete’s call to embrace a holy fear of God—one that doesn’t cause us to cower in terror, but empowers us to move forward in Christ’s mission, entranced by the beauty and wonder of the cross of Christ.
December 30, 2013
What does it mean to fear the Lord? The Bible is full of such admonition yet much confusion remains: are we to cower in terror before God, or are we to be so informal with Him that we lose all the reverence that belongs to Him? To help achieve the necessary understanding and balance, Poblete examines the way Scripture talks about fearing God and the way that His holiness forms the basis for properly knowing Him.
September 19, 2025
I have never heard of this book or the author before. Naturally I was skeptical. But I knew that the cruciform press books are known for being very good bite-size theology books for everyday life.
I am happy to say I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I highly recommend it to anyone. Of course, based upon the cruciform series, it is aimed at believers that can get an easy-to-understand, short, practical book on - in this case - the fear of the Lord. Very helpful, emphases on the right places and good scripture and book uses that show the author both thought long and hard on this, as well as lived it out himself.
This was not a life changing book for me, but confronted my often misguided or undervalued focus on the "fear of the Lord".
I am happy to say I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I highly recommend it to anyone. Of course, based upon the cruciform series, it is aimed at believers that can get an easy-to-understand, short, practical book on - in this case - the fear of the Lord. Very helpful, emphases on the right places and good scripture and book uses that show the author both thought long and hard on this, as well as lived it out himself.
This was not a life changing book for me, but confronted my often misguided or undervalued focus on the "fear of the Lord".
September 3, 2012
The Bible tells us in 1 John that there is no fear in love and perfect love casts out fear. Does that mean that the fear of God is just an Old Testament concept, it being several times mentioned in the O.T. that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom? The answer is no, Christians are still to fear the Lord today if they are to please Him, although there is a good fear of God to be sought and a bad fear to be avoided. Chris Poblete makes it clear what the distinction is, and why a true godly fear is still important to us as Christians today. This is a subject not often discussed today, so the message of this book is vital and well worth consideration.
November 4, 2012
Great book which clearly explains what it means to fear God. A short and enjoyable read.
May 19, 2017
4.5 stars! Very good little book. I enjoy the Cruciform series and this book did not disappoint. It is a good solid introduction to the concept of the fear of God!!! Recommended
January 30, 2014
Everyone fears, the question is who or what do we fear? Jesus puts it as explicitly as he can when he says ‘And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.’ (Matthew 10:28) And this is what The Two Fears seeks to do.
First, it explains what fear is, ‘To fear something is to give credence to its power over you’. Which is i think a better explanation of fear as compared to how Christian normally explains that fear of God is not like your fear of spider. This definition works well in both kind of fears.
After defining it, it then moves to explain why we must fear God. Mainly explaining about the characteristics of God, most importantly, His Otherness (set apart-ness), i.e. His Holiness. After explain who God is, Poblete then explains what God does (or will do), namely judge all sinners.
Which then moves to the next motivation of our fear as Christians, we fear God not because of punishment, but because we are saved by the Son, we fear out of a grateful heart, this is what Poblete calls Holy Fear. Which he then moves on to explain what benefits we as Christians can have as we cultivate such holy fear.
Next, he explains the unholy fear, which is directly opposite of holy fear. The consequences of unholy fear is then examined. I personally thought that this chapter was the most well written since it really can show the heart of a person who shows unholy fear in his life.
Two more examples of unholy fear is then expounded, first the fear of man, and then the fear of situation. The fear of situation and the following chapter after that was also well written and shows close connection between the unholy fear, and the God whom we should have holy fear for. Poblete correctly points out that both christians and non-christians will face situations that may have cause for fear, the only difference is that as christians our focus is not on the situation, our focus is on the God who brings us in, and through the situation, all the way.
The last chapter is a heralding call to the church, to fear God together as a congregation.
This is a good book with points adeptly explained and well illustrated, very good for those who need a introduction to this topic and even for those who already have some knowledge about the topic. This is not a dry-as-bone book, but enriching and practical.
First, it explains what fear is, ‘To fear something is to give credence to its power over you’. Which is i think a better explanation of fear as compared to how Christian normally explains that fear of God is not like your fear of spider. This definition works well in both kind of fears.
After defining it, it then moves to explain why we must fear God. Mainly explaining about the characteristics of God, most importantly, His Otherness (set apart-ness), i.e. His Holiness. After explain who God is, Poblete then explains what God does (or will do), namely judge all sinners.
Which then moves to the next motivation of our fear as Christians, we fear God not because of punishment, but because we are saved by the Son, we fear out of a grateful heart, this is what Poblete calls Holy Fear. Which he then moves on to explain what benefits we as Christians can have as we cultivate such holy fear.
Next, he explains the unholy fear, which is directly opposite of holy fear. The consequences of unholy fear is then examined. I personally thought that this chapter was the most well written since it really can show the heart of a person who shows unholy fear in his life.
Two more examples of unholy fear is then expounded, first the fear of man, and then the fear of situation. The fear of situation and the following chapter after that was also well written and shows close connection between the unholy fear, and the God whom we should have holy fear for. Poblete correctly points out that both christians and non-christians will face situations that may have cause for fear, the only difference is that as christians our focus is not on the situation, our focus is on the God who brings us in, and through the situation, all the way.
The last chapter is a heralding call to the church, to fear God together as a congregation.
This is a good book with points adeptly explained and well illustrated, very good for those who need a introduction to this topic and even for those who already have some knowledge about the topic. This is not a dry-as-bone book, but enriching and practical.
March 23, 2013
I just finish reading The Two Fears by Chris Poblete. WHOA! This is a great book to read. We all do need to read this book. We all do need to have a healthy Fear of God. Are we too lukewarm, and do we really have a Healthy Fear of God? I I would encourage you all to get this book through Cruciform or Amazon! It is a short book like (98 pages). This book is a must for every believers to read. I am thankful for this short Christ-center book. Thank you, Chris for writing this book for us to read and thank you for reminding us and keep on pointing us to Christ all the more.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews